When the #blkUniversal Collection was first announced, expectations were immediately set high. After all, it promised “Universally Flattering Shades”, “Multi-Use Essentials”, “Longwearing Formula”, and “On-the-Go Cosmetics”. Alluringly packaged in the trendy minimalist aesthetic, I found myself virtually lining up soon as they launched online. 

We were legit shookt when Vice Cosmetics started teasing what looked like a brow kit on social media. It was high time the local brand took on brows! Still, I felt it was a tad ambitious to start off with a retractable microbrow pencil and a brow gel as both are regarded as relatively more advanced and premium tools for makeup enthusiasts. I was truly curious with what the brand would come up with, considering their affordable product price range.

I usually listen to music on my commute home, but this time I opted to download Episode 2 of the Project Vanity Podcast on my Spotify. While I don’t usually follow podcasts, this particular episode caught my interest because it appeals to my inner beauty journalist! I was particularly excited with this episode because  I wanted to know what insights Colourette Cosmetics owner Nina Dizon could share about running a beauty business. Can you believe that she started as a 19-year-old student?! Listen to her story here:

When you live outside of Metro Manila, there are very few places to get your beauty fix. Back in my home province, there are only two standalone makeup kiosks inside malls. SkinPotions is one of them, so I’ve been curious about what this local beauty brand has to offer. When they recently came out with an Aladdin collection, I just had to try it because Jasmine is my favorite Disney princess! Will this make me look as fabulous as Prince Ali?

While many bloggers have released their own makeup lines or collaborations, it’s not often that they venture into scents. It is an especially bold move to do so locally! Vv and Co. is a relatively new brand by local bloggers and real-life sisters Vern and Verniece Enciso. The brand currently offers three perfumes: Vern, Verniece, and Cat, the product of a collaboration with fellow blogger Cat Arambulo-Antonio. The bottles have a premium look and feel, and each scent contains 30ml.

Let’s be honest: sticky sunscreens will certainly have us preferring to skip sun protection altogether. This is probably why I’ve always turned to Japanese sunscreens because of their non-stickiness and comfortable wear. But good news to those want to patronize our local products - there are actually some good (and non-sticky) proudly Filipino sunscreens in the market! Even better news is that these are all under P500 so we have no more excuses to skip on sunscreen. Here’s what I tried!

When I was five, my parents took me to watch Mulan on the big screen. She instantly became my favorite Disney princess, and I loved wearing the Mulan costume I got for Halloween. Even after watching all the other Disney movies, Mulan remains to be my favorite because of her strength and her courage to challenge the norm. So I was super happy to see that she’s joining the other princesses in Happy Skin’s second collab with Disney!

There are only two things in the world that are guaranteed to quickly take me from 0 to 10 on the emotional scale: lipstick and Disney Princesses. So when Happy Skin announced their new Disney collection a few weeks ago, a follow up to their 2016 release, I could not calm down!

With the recent coronation of a new Binibining Pilipinas, Catriona Gray has passed on the title to Gazini Ganados. Of course, Queen Cat continues to reign supreme as Miss Universe (and over our hearts)! Serving look after killer look, Catriona inspired us to take a closer look at the intricacies of pageant makeup. Her bold red lip had the local beauty community scrambling to find out what lipstick she has used, and it’s what led me to visit an unassuming little compound in Quezon City.

As someone with dry skin, I always thought that moisturizing would be the key step in my skincare routine. For many years, I would slather thick and heavy creams all over my face in the hope that they would get rid of my dry patches and ashy gray complexion. And then I learned about the existence of acids. I researched about chemical exfoliation feverishly because “acid” sounded so intimidatingly potent and I was afraid of burning my skin like Liz did when she did a chemical peel. The treatment worked for her but I didn’t want to deal with the downtime!

In the 36 years that Ever Bilena has been playing and slaying in the local beauty biz, the brand has clearly mastered the fine art of adapting with the times. Far from being relegated to distant memory as your lola’s tukador staple, EB has grown and expanded with several notable sub-brands for makeup and body care, an edgy beauty line for today’s trendsetters, and even a high-profile cosmetics collab with the Queen of All Media.

Since its grand launch in 2017, Vice Cosmetics has firmly established itself in the local celeb beauty brand scene with a resounding pak! Last year saw a major focus on tarush-colored pouts with a line of moisturizing matte lipsticks, the Philippines’ answer to Kylie Jenner’s lip kits, some juicy-looking lip tints, and a glittery collab with stylist-to-the-stars Bang Pineda. Let’s not forget that the brand also got ‘cheeky’ with the Aura collection of powder blushes, highlighters, and contours!

Say annyeong once more as blk Cosmetics releases a second K-beauty collection! Inspired by Anne Curtis’s love for Korean teleseryes, the homegrown brand released their first K-beauty collection last year featuring a mix of best-selling favorites and some new items all in dreamy K-beauty shades. The second collection follows pretty much the same strategy, so it’s no wonder fans immediately snapped it up. As soon as it was launched on April 1, a handful of SKUs immediately sold out online and in-store, well ahead of the official media launch on April 2!

I’ve been a fan of Colourette Cosmetics ever since Liz gave me a Colourtint. Now, I have a small collection of Colourtints, and a few more lippies from their different lipstick lines. I find their lip products to offer great quality at a very affordable price so when Colourette released these limited edition matte lipsticks called Christmattes, I just had to try them out! This post is a bit late considering this was released during the holidays, but I hope to give you an idea of how Colourette bullet lipsticks perform.

What does it mean to “get Nekkid”? For local, small-batch beauty company Nekkid Manila, it means stripping down to the basics by focusing on high-quality, hand-made products. It also means going the cruelty-free, vegan/vegetarian, and all-natural route. But while the latter claims probably belong to a broader discussion on labeling, this review will stick to the experience of trying out eight products from their collection.

Celebrity makeup lines are a dime-a-dozen these days. And while the next actress/singer/influencer to announce a collab or launch their own brand might not be so surprising anymore, the intrigue is still there. What passes a star’s standard of quality? How do they curate a collection? How involved are they really in the development process? Only one way to find out!

Last November 23rd, Human Nature celebrated their anniversary with a bang at the PICC Banquet Hall. In attendance were hundreds of their employees and advocates. The positive energy was palpable as the husband and wife tandem of Paolo Abrera and Suzi Entrata-Abrera introduced themselves as hosts for the night, as well as long-time supporters of the proudly local brand.

It’s a great time to be a makeup junkie. The past few years have witnessed the birth of several new local makeup brands, and each one of them has been bringing their A-game to the table. One of these new players is Vice Cosmetics, which just launched last year. With the success of several lines of lipsticks and their first collab, Vice is upping the ante with a range of powder highlighters, blushes, and contour called the Aura Collection.

I am absolutely weak for minis (see Exhibits 1, 2, and 3). Since I like lugging my beauty essentials around, collecting travel-sized skincare and makeup has always been my happy pill. Recently, I swooned over the new shades of blk Cosmetics #blktravels when I spotted them on Instagram. Paris, Los Angeles, New York, and London are bold additions to their initial collection of MLBBs and more classic hues.

After all the initial rush of collecting lipsticks, eyeshadow palettes, and foundations tides over, makeup lovers soon find themselves in need of the right tools to apply them. Just like most beginners, I started by buying brush sets which had most if not everything I need to do a full face of makeup. At first, it seemed enough to have a brush each for foundation, eyeshadow, and blush. However as I learned more about makeup application and better understood which of my features I actually wanted to emphasize, I realized that rather than splurging on a collection of 20+++ brushes, it’s actually more sulit to invest on premium quality individual brushes!